Potters Collective
by shadowmaster3324
Summary: A collection of ideas and thoughts about different Fanfics centering around Harry Potter. T for Safety.
1. Chapter 1

This is an Index of stories written revolving around Harry Potter and various ideas, books, movies or just dumb thoughts. There may be One shots, Chapters, or just babbles of stories and half baked ideas. Please enjoy.

Chapter 1: Harry Potter X Fullmetal Alchemist; A Potter Scorned.  
Chapter 2: Harry Potter; Potters Ink.  
Chapter 3: Harry potter X Fullmetal Alchemist; A Potter Scorned.


	2. A Potter Scorned Chapter 1

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry October 31_ _st_ _2004_

"Now the moment you've all been waiting for." An aged voice echoed throughout a hall filled with people all but a few under the age of 18. "The Champion Selection."

The man spun around holding his palm out towards the fires blazing above the children providing warmth and light to the Hall that they were seated in, reducing all the fires to a small flame, like that of a candle. Allowing the brilliant blue flames of an ancient artifact to fill the space that the light had originally covered, giving the hall a dramatic appearance.

As he continued to reduce the flames in the braziers he moved towards the blue flames produced by the artefact, his palm extended and fingers splayed out. He placed both hands on the Artefact just where the metal met flames as if there was no heat produced.

Everyone watched in fascination and with baited breath, they had been waiting the entire week for this to happen.

The man moved away from the object one hand out ready for a reaction.

The flames suddenly changed from a cobalt blue to a vermilion red and glowed with power, it spat something out and changed back to blue. The man caught the item that was spat out.

It was a piece of Parchment, scorched mostly black but between his fingers he could see some writing that had remained untouched.

"The Durmstrang Champion is; Viktor Krum." He announced.

Deep Cheers echoed from one side of the Hall, everyone could see one young man with extremely short hair was being slapped on the back and congratulated by the people around him before standing and making his way to shake the man's hand.

The Flames turned Vermilion once more and shot another piece of Parchment into the air, which the man caught, carefully moving it in his hand to read from the circular piece without burning his hands on the singed ends.

"The Champion of Beauxbatons is; Fleur Delacour." He announced.

Female cheers rang out through the stony hall. A young woman with long blonde hair tied in a neat pony tail looked around her and smiled at the girls nearby before standing rising to shake the man's hand before being shown where she had to go to follow her fellow champion.

A third piece of Parchment was ejected from Vermilion flames and caught by the man.

"The Hogwarts Champion; Cedric Diggory." He announced.

Cheers echoed throughout the hall by the larger majority of students as a young man wearing dark clothes and a yellow tie shook the hands of those around him while beaming a dazzling smile before making his way to shake the man's hand and receiving a pat on the shoulder from him.

The man spun around to address the audience.

"Excellent!" He shouted, drawing attention back to himself. "We now have our three champions." All eyes were locked on him once more. "But in the end, only one will go down in history." A man with slicked back hair and a thin mustache under his nose walked in and placed a covered object on the podium at the head of the hall. "Only one will hoist this Chalice of Champions, this vessel of Victory." He spun sharply and pointed "The Tri-Wizard Cup!"

The cover was torn back and a trophy was torn back and an ethereal blue cup with vine-like handles was exposed, the letters 'TRI-WIZ-ARD' were etched carefully into the glass.

As everyone was cheering one man walked forward, almost as if in a trance, his eyes were locked on something as if he was trying to puzzle out what it was he was seeing.

The man turned around, following the eyes of the other man to see wisps of cobalt fire rising into the air chaotically surrounding the larger cobalt flame. The wind-like sound that it produced drew the attention of everyone around and the applause died out.

The man moved towards the artefact, preparing to stop it from harming anyone around it, but was forced to cover his eyes as the flame turned brightly vermilion once more and started swirling around.

Everyone watched as the flames violently ejected a fourth piece of Parchment, the light from the flames was powerful enough that the man couldn't read what it said, though he was so caught up in what was happening he barely registered the loud gasps that came from several places throughout the hall.

"Harry Potter…" He breathed out.

The sound of a goblet clanging on the ground drew all eyes in the silent hall.

A young woman wearing black robes with a blue trim was the culprit.

What caused more confusion was that she was shaking violently, her arms wrapped around herself as if she was trying to keep herself warm.

"The Raven…" she muttered.

"Miss Li?" the man asked softly "is there something you need to say?"

Her shaking eyes locked onto the man's, he saw a deep fear the likes of which he hadn't thought he'd ever see again, as she raised a shaking hand and pointed at the parchment he was holding. He looked at the parchment and realized that there was something on the other side.

Turning it over his eyes widened in shock, though it wasn't from recognition but from the words under the symbol on the back of the parchment.

There was a crow with it's wings extended seated in on a skull nestled in a pool of blood with words curved over the design.

 _Ferri Per Sanguinem Nigrum Alas  
_ _Carried by Blood Black Wings._

The cobalt artefact roared before anyone could do anything, drawing all eyes once more. The goblet's flame burst out wide and a strange image displayed itself to the crowd.

* * *

 _November 1st_ 2004

"Morning Daddy!" a young chipper voice called out as a heavy weight jumped onto Harry's chest, violently pulling him from the realm of Morpheus.

"Janet~" Harry groaned "What have I told you about jumping on me in the mornings?"

"That I'm allowed to do it whenever I want." The young girl identified as Janet chirped.

Harry chuckled as Janet bounced on his stomach.

"Alright, alright I'm awake now." He surrendered to her will.

"Good." She stated imperiously. "I want Pancakes for Breakfast."

Harry smiled "Only if you get my chair for me, I need to get my legs."

Without a response Janet scurried off the bed to retrieve the wheelchair that was sitting in the corner of the room.

"Why don't you wear them to bed like normal?" Janet asked when she parked the chair next to the bed with the seat open to Harry, like he'd shown her to do years before.

"Because I needed to do some work on them, they also needed a clean after my last job in the bush." He told her.

Janet tilted her head to the side, it was her classical 'I don't get it' look.

"Tony fell over and tried to grab me for support and we both fell into the mud and I wasn't able to get all the mud off my leg so some of it was stuck inside and caused some issues when I was trying to walk."

"Ooohh." Janet replied, now understanding.

She watched Harry pull himself onto the chair, unknowing that they were being watched. Though if they found out both, mainly Harry, would be happy that he had been wearing boxers to bed instead of briefs.

* * *

 _Hogwarts_

There was an audible gasp when Harry's legs were revealed. There was nothing below what would have been halfway down his Thigh, the limb was capped with a metal, there was a hole going into the leg where something was to be inserted and there were other portions that seemed to connect into something.

The scars that showed on his legs and torso alone were something that made many people in the hall sick to their stomach just thinking about what the young man went through to receive those scars in the first place.

* * *

 _Unknown_

"Can you make me Pancakes now, daddy?" Janet begged.

Harry sighed and looked at Janet.

"I need to get my legs before I can do that Janet, so give me a few minutes, okay?" he asked "Why don't you go and get dressed, I'll put my legs on and meet you in the kitchen. If you're ready before me then you can get the powder from the cupboard for me."

"Okay Daddy." Janet grinned as she ran out of the room heading off to do what she was told.

As soon as she was out of the room Harry closed his eyes tightly, clearly trying to prevent himself from crying. After several moments he rolled over to the desk in the corner in the room, he lifted the photo that he'd placed face down.

"She's forgotten you mom." He spoke sadly. "I've done everything that I could short of shoving your picture in her face and telling her who you are and that I'm not her father, but I can't bear to break her heart, not after everything that we had to go through in order to get this far."

He looked at a picture of a women with short blonde hair with a wide grin, she was shown in the picture of her in a hospital room, sweat covering her face while holding a small bundle in her arms while a young boy with black hair and emerald eyes seated next to her.

"I don't want to crush her dreams but… your mother is a horrible woman and she's still trying to take Janet from me." He scoffed then chuckled. "But you were smart when you realized just what I was and used the goblins to your advantage."

He knitted his fingers together and rested them on the table looking at the photo with longing.

"I miss you Ma."

Without another word he wheeled the chair back and rolled out of the room.

* * *

 _Hogwarts_

The crowd was stunned when the images that they were watching faded away. Silence reigned as the Adults in the hall all looked at each other, as if they were having a silent conversation.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologise for the difficulty tonight, unfortunately the other Headmaster and Headmistress of our guest schools and the other officials must depart to go over this revelation." The man announced "Hogwarts students, curfew will commence as soon as dinner is finished."

Without another word the man, the tournament officials and the school heads all departed from the hall, they were followed by a woman with deep red hair.

 _Headmasters office, Hogwarts_

"Albus is he really?" The red-haired woman asked before anyone else had the chance to speak "Was that really my son?"

This drew the eye of all the other adults in the room.

"You have my apologies Lily, but I cannot be sure until I meet him in person and confirm it for myself." The man identified as Albus told her with a sadness in his voice. "I searched for him, just as you and James did, for many years. If this is, indeed, a new lead on your eldest then I will do everything that I can to ensure that you get to see him once more."

"It is all vell and good to zay zhat you do not know whose name came out of ze Goblet, vhat I vant to know is how did zhis Happen!" a very angry man with a long goatee shouted.

"Igor, this is not helping." Albus told him sternly. "I am not well versed in the security of the Goblet's natural enchantments, the only addition that I made was the Age line and determent wards that was agreed on by the committee."

"You're lying." Igor shouted.

"The Goblet of Fire is an extremely magical object, only an exceptionally powerful confundus charm could have hoodwinked its magic, and it was you who insisted that Albus swear an oath not to add anything to the goblet other than the agreed upon wards and age line."

Igor whirled around to face the man that had spoken.

"You seem to have given this a fair bit of thought, Mad-Eye."

The now named Mad-Eye stared Igor dead in the eye.

"It was once my job to think as Dark wizards do, Karkaroff, perhaps you remember."

"This doesn't help Alastor." Albus growled at the arguing men, he looked towards the man with the thin mustache "Barty, what's your say in this?"

'Barty' swallowed and nervously looked around.

"The rules are absolute." He spoke shakily "The Goblet of fire constitutes a Binding Magical Contract" One could hear the capital letters. 'Barty' spun around to face the group he'd turned away from. "Mr Potter, or The Raven as the young lady identified him as, has no choice. He is, as of tonight, A Triwizard Champion."

All eyes locked onto the piece of Parchment that Albus had placed on the desk.

"I will return to the ministry." Barty said. "I will need to speak with the international community, perhaps someone will know Mr. Potter's location."

Without another word he quickly made his way out of the school and beyond the wards that surrounded the school.

"Is there anything you can do Albus?" Lily asked.

"I am afraid that there is nothing I am aware of that will allow me to locate him, the only spells that I am aware of that will reveal the location of another only work within the confines of the country the spell is cast in, I have cast the strongest ones I know several times without any results. I figure that he moves around regularly or irregularly enough that the times I've been in other countries and had the chance to use said spells he wasn't in the country." Albus told her.

Lily sniffed.

"At least we know that he's alive." Albus soothed. "And now that I have something connected to him…"

Albus moved quicker than anyone had thought a man of his age could, darting across his office pulling open draws, cupboards and pursuing shelves. His fingers barley ghosting the numerous objects that he had collected over the years, it took him a short while but he eventually found what he was looking for.

It was a large Black piece of glass with various golden runes along the rim and border.

"What is that Albus?" Asked another woman.

"This, my dear Minerva, is a scrying mirror that was given to me many years ago during the last ICW summit in Greece where I visited the Temple of Apollo in Delphi." He explained. "I received this from one of the workers at the temple, they sold it by mistake but did not ask for me to return it, fortunately for me."

Albus drew his wand and levitated the black glass mirror into the air so they could all see it clearly, after the mirror was in place he touched the Parchment with Harry's name on it and then touched it to the mirror, then repeated the action while chanting in Latin.

" _Revelare ad me in unum coniuncta._ "

This continued on for several minutes before an image started to reveal itself on the mirrors surface. Unknown to Albus, Lily and the identified Minerva, the two other school heads had both departed from the room, not really caring about what was happening, though they were both aggravated that there was going to be a fourth competitor, meaning that there was another person that they needed to beat, though the person skills were unknown it was clear that they were going to be an actual challenge considering the reaction of that student.

As the remaining occupants in the room watched the image of a smoke-like fog obscured the screen.

* * *

 _Unknown 7:33 am_

The mirror cleared to reveal a modest kitchen with wooden cupboards, uneven tiles and a fry-pan sitting resting on a stove top. It was clear to see that there was a plastic bottle sitting beside the stove with some kind of thick paste-like liquid.

"Janet, you done eating yet?" a male voice called out. Those watching recognized that it belonged it Harry.

"Yes." Janet called out.

"OK, get your bag. Victoria is taking you to school today." They watched as Harry walked into the dinning room that was on the other side of the bench of the kitchen, now walking instead of sitting in a wheelchair, he was also wearing blue jeans, boots and adjusting a white T-shirt that he'd clearly just slipped on.

He chuckled when he saw that her face was covered in a chocolate-coloured mess.

"You've got Nutella all over your face." He admonished playfully.

He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a damp cloth. The group watched as he lovingly wiped her cheeks and face clean of the so called 'Nutella' while the young Janet attempted to keep talking about all the things that she was looking forward to doing.

"When do I get to go to School like you did Daddy?" Janet asked after a short period.

Harry seemed to think for a moment before answering.

"You are going to the same school Janet, I went to Charles La Trobe as well." He told her.

* * *

 _Hogwarts_

Lilly recognized that they were talking about school, and as a school it would have to have a record somewhere in the world, as well as an address and it would need to be registered with the government. She quickly snatched a quill, ink and parchment from Albus' desk and wrote down the name.

She also wrote down Nutella, it seemed to be important to the girl and some places sold things that weren't available in others, she knew this from some of her international travels.

* * *

 _Unknown_

"Not that school Dad." She said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and he should have known what she meant. "The one in the city that you went to before you got a job."

"Oh, you mean MAIM?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"You won't start learning Magic for a few years yet." He told her as he took the plate and cutlery into the kitchen. "You will learn some basics at La Trobe, like potions, runes, languages and history, but you won't get a wand and learn other spells until you're a little older."

"But I'm already eight and ten months." She whined.

Harry shook his head and smiled at her.

"I'll tell you what, if you're good, and by that, I mean don't get into any more arguments at school which lead to Ms. Risini calling me, or anyone else, having to come pick you up from school for the few weeks left, then I will take you to the Wand shop and we'll see if you're ready for your own wand." He brokered "Alright?"

"Really?! You mean it Daddy?!" Janet started to babble and speak rapidly, while also getting louder and louder as she continued to speak.

Harry ended up laughing at her enthusiasm.

"But only if you behave." He pointed out. "Now go and get your-"

He was cut off by a loud knocking at the front door, though it sounded like someone hammering the door with a hammer.

Harry raised his hand, gesturing for Janet to be quiet, which she did, as he rose carefully to his feet. He reached behind him and pulled something from the back of his pants, he stalked, moving like a predator stalking his prey. He held the object in front of himself and slid back the top of the object slightly with his hand, peering into the item before holding it out once more, holding it in his right hand with his left supporting it.

He looked back and saw that Janet had moved back towards the hallway and was leaning out slightly so she could also see what was happening.

"Get back." He mouthed at her, he watched her for a second move fully into the hallway as the banging began again.

He got right up to the door and peered through the peephole. All the tension left his body as he saw who was on the other side.

"Tony." Harry greeted the man that stood on the other side of the door as he opened the door to him.

"Hey boss." Tony greeted.

Harry stood to the side as the large man with white hair entered.

"Janet." Harry called out "It was just Tony."

Janet poked her head out from the Hallway, as if she was checking to see if he was telling the truth, seeing that it was really just Tony she came out and glared at him, putting both hands on her hips and narrowing her eyes at him.

"What did I do?" Tony asked, looking at Harry.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Tony, as if to say 'You know what you did.'

"So, where's Victoria?" Harry asked as he moved back towards the kitchen putting the item he's held back into the waistband of his pants.

"She's dealing with the twins." Tony answered.

Harry looked at Tony.

"What happened with the twins, they've been fine since the World Cup." Harry asked.

Tony sighed as he slumped into a chair.

"They've been doing all right, especially after the fighting we got to do at the Quidditch World Cup, you know they're still on my case about using the hammer on those tossers." He groaned. "Anyway, the twins were making their way into the City, for their classes at MAIM ya 'know, anyway they were travelling by Tram and this guy grabs Bethany around the waist and starts feeling up Joanna."

Harry groaned loudly as Janet walked into the room with her bag.

"Is the idiot still alive?" Harry asked.

Tony nodded "Barely, it was a good thing that 167 takes the same Tram that they do."

Harry drew a blank on the identification. "Who's 167 again?"

"This scrawny twig named Conner, he was heading into Maim to assist with some class and makes a habit of carrying around some calming powder. Poor kids smarter than white on rice but can't defend himself from anything." Tony shook his head.

"Alright, so you're gonna take Janet to school?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, Vicky sent me to take care of the kid today. I was also supposed to remind you that Damian has those parts you were after for your legs." Tony said as he rose from his chair, picking up Janet's bag that she had left on the floor as she was trying to steal a cookie from the jar on the counter without being seen.

Harry, in three quick steps, scooped Janet into his arms before she could get a cookie. "Nooo! No more sugar for you this morning trouble."

Janet giggled when she was pulled off her feet.

"You already blackmailed me into making Pancakes for breakfast. So, you can wait until you come home for any more cookies." Harry told the young curly haired brunette.

"But Daddy!" She whined.

Harry shook his head as he put her on the ground, he kneeled down and looked her in the eye, his laughter was gone and he was serious now, something that Janet recognized.

"Now you need to remember, Lorraine is picking you up tonight from school. Do you remember my rules?" he asked, he almost sounded desperate.

"I remember Daddy." Janet replied.

"Tell them to me, please." He pressed.

"No telling her about your Job. No signing anything or swearing on my Magic or Life. No signing anything that she tells me to. Always wear the emergency portkey, no matter what. No performing any rituals without you or the rest of the team around." Janet recited.

"You forgot one; Don't let her get her hands on any of your blood. Always clean your injuries yourself without letting any elves clean it or anything you use, I've shown you how to take care of cuts, scrapes and other things; but if you get hurt badly use your portkey and it will take you to the IAA Infirmary and they'll get in touch with me." Harry told her, the fear was plain in his voice.

After everything that happened at the World Cup, Lorraine has been pushing for guardianship over her granddaughter, Janet, regardless of the will of her late mother Samantha 'Sam' Carter.

* * *

 _Hogwarts, Headmasters office._

"He really cares for the girl." Minerva noted. "Though he does seem a bit young to have a child, if I do say so myself."

"Ah, but my dear Minerva…" Albus spoke using his grandfatherly tone "She is not his daughter."

"How can you tell Albus?" Asked a latecomer.

"Because he didn't use any kind of affection other than playfully calling her 'Trouble'." Lily answered.

"What do you mean Lily?" Minerva asked.

Lily had to think for a moment.

"When a parent cares for their child, similar to the way that Harry cares for Janet, they tend to use a shorter version of their name, similar to someone calling you 'Minnie' or myself 'Lil's'. It's just another way of showing affection to someone you love." She answered.

"There is also what he said to the photo." A dismissed tone added in.

"Indeed Severus." Albus said. "It would seem that young Mr. Potter has taken it upon himself to raise young Janet, if I'm not mistaken there seems to be some kind of mysterious connection between Young Harry and this man Tony, the aforementioned Victoria and the 'Twins' he mentioned."

"Why is my Baby raising a child anyway?" Lily huffed "He's too young to do something like that."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." The Latecomer piped up.

"Why's that Filius?" Minerva asked.

"His eyes." The dismissed tone answered in Filius' place, his tone more serious and hinted at shame.

"Indeed Severus, you saw it too." Filius said.

The man identified as Severus nodded lightly once.

"What does his eyes have to say about anything?" Minerva asked.

"The eyes are the window to the soul Minerva." Albus pointed out. "Please, Filius, continue."

"Thank you, Headmaster." Filius nodded in thanks. "From what we saw in the Great hall, he has suffered in his life, especially if we all remember the scandal that happened with your sister Lily." Filius dragged up the memory of a particular bad time in Lily's family history, though saying 'Family History' was perhaps a misnomer considering it was in the Prophet and the entire Community knew about it.

"The scars that we saw on his stomach and the lack of legs, show that he has fought a battle, and perhaps he did not win, but instead did not lose." He said, causing some to raise an eyebrow at his words.

"The photo that we saw showed a woman that didn't seem to be that much older than yourself Lily, a young Harry and, from what I believe, a young new born Janet. I would bet that the woman in the photo raised Harry when he went missing until she passed away and Harry then took over raising his sister, not his daughter."

"What was that item he was holding when he approached the door?" Minerva asked. "It didn't look like any magical item I've come across."

"It wasn't magical." Lily answered. "It's a muggle weapon called a gun, most would refer to them as a Firearm. The one he was holding is called a Handgun, I only know a small amount about it because my dad had one when he was a soldier."

"You seem quite perceptive Filius." Albus complimented, attempting to get the conversation back to where it was.

Filius chuckled "I am still a goblin Albus, no matter the fact that I am a half-blood."

"Indeed." Albus conceded "I hope that Barty has luck in finding you- Mr. Potter." The others in the room noted the sudden change of wording, but said nothing. "Though I would be remiss in my duties if I, myself, did not reach out to the many people that I have met over the years, already I believe that I have something of a lead. Lily, would it trouble you greatly if I held onto a copy of your notations?"

"Of course, not Headmaster." Lily reapplied, instantly performing a duplication charm on the notes that she made.

* * *

 _Ministry of Magic, Department of International Cooperation_

Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Senior, was not having a good evening.

Things had been going wonderfully for himself, to a point, the Tri-Wizard Tournament was being held and there were already tickets being requested and sent through his office for international communities to visit England to observe the tournament as well as requests for the Wizard Wireless to record the commentary and broadcast it around the globe.

Tonight was supposed to be about the three Champions that were selected to compete, not about some mysterious 'Raven' or Harry Potter. This was a nightmare.

He hurried through the halls of the ministry, almost barreling through a group of workers from one of the smaller departments that he hadn't bothered to think about because they weren't a part of his department, hence they weren't his problem.

He sat at his desk and started looking over some of the reports that he'd been given to look over.

"Marius!" He called out to his secretary.

"Yes sir?" A young short haired brunet boy appeared.

"I need you to issue an alert to the other Ministries and the ICW Magical Registry Office." Barty demanded.

"Yes sir. Who are you looking for?" the boy asked.

"Harry Potter." He stated.

Marius blinked. "The eldest son of Lily and James Potter? Older missing brother of The-Boy-Who-Lived?"

Barty rolled his eyes. "Yes, that one, also another name, this one a title or alias. The Raven."

"'The Raven'?" Marius repeated in a questioning tone.

"Yes Smith, 'The Raven', will I need to write it down for you as well?" He barked at the foolish boy.

Smith shook his head "Sorry sir, but you saying that reminded me of something I read the other day when I was having lunch with Alchemist Delian."

Bartemius sniffed "I don't see how that's important Smith."

"Apologies sir, but she was reading a report about another Alchemist that published some research under the alias 'The Raven Haired Alchemist'." He told his superior. "I asked about the name and she told me that all Alchemists above certain ranks or of certain pathways are given alias' or code-names to be referred to as; hers being 'The Sapphire Alchemist'."

Bartemius looked at his secretary and rubbed his chin in thought.

"Did she know the name of the supposed Raven Alchemist?" he asked.

Marius shook his head "She did not know his name, but she did say that she'd met him once in passing, apparently he came to the World cup this year and registered with the International Alchemist Association office here in London, as is protocol."

"When is the next time that you will speak with her?"


	3. Potters Ink Chapter 1

Harry had hoped that his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be somewhat more peaceful than his last, considering that the shade of the Dark Lord Voldemort had been expunged from the castle last year when it's vessel/host Professor Quirrell was defeated. Sadly, everything had changed some time ago when the feline companion of the school's caretaker, Mr Filch, had turned up hung by its tail petrified on Halloween with words written in what looked to be blood.

 _THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED  
ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE_

It was a tense few days where every student seemed to be jumping at shadows and never taking the risk of being caught in any groups smaller than a trio. Then students had been found petrified, first was a young Gryffindor Collin Creevy, he was a somewhat shy Muggle-Born with a fascination about taking pictures to send home to his parents, showing them everything that he discovered about the Magical community. The next petrification victim was Justin Finch-Fletchley and a scorched Nearly-Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost.

Sadly, this is where things started to fall to ruin for the year.

Not too much earlier than Justin being discovered by Harry, then the trio being found by the Poltergeist Peeves who caused a ruckus upon seeing Nick, Justin had been a very vocal Hufflepuff that had repeatedly pressed that Harry had attempted to goad a snake into attacking him when it had been revealed that he was able to speak a magical language that was considered Dark by the wizarding world. Parseltongue. The language of snakes. It was made worse when it was revealed that the most notable users of the language were Herpo the Foul, a well known ancient Dark Lord who had reigned in the past, and Lord Voldemort.

Students started looking at Harry as the source of the attacks thanks to Justin's close friend Ernie Macmillan, also a Hufflepuff, who had declared that Harry had been caught red handed when he had, in fact, just discovered the scene a short while before.

It didn't help when Hermione, one of his closest friends had taken to studying everything that she could get her hands on in the library after the events of Christmas when Harry, Hermione and Ron, another friend of the two, had taken a dose of Polyjuice potion, which allowed the drinker to transform, for a short while, into the form of another. Hermione had mistakenly taken a hair from another student that belonged to their pet Cat, the potion not intended to be used in such a way caused an issue that resulted in Hermione needing time in the Hospital wing, missing nearly a week of class, while Harry and Ron had snuck their way into the Slytherin dormitory in the attempt to discover if their repetitive antagonist Draco Malfoy, a notorious bully and Slytherin advocate, was the Heir of Slytherin that the school had thought Harry was.

It turned out that they were wrong and Draco was _not_ , in fact, the Heir as they had thought he was. This had sent Hermione to the Library to look for more clues or ideas about what the so called 'Slytherin's Monster' could be, as well as catch up on all the supposed class work that she hadn't completed to excess amounts during her stay in the hospital wing, and how to deal with the unintended side effects of the Animal-Polyjuice that she had taken.

Ron Weasley, a red-haired Gryffindor and, self-proclaimed, best friend of Harry Potter, was somewhat vocal about Harry being innocent. While loudly shouted at students that said Harry was the cause of the attacks he had started to distance himself from Harry as Hermione had, students had taken it to mean that they weren't sure about whether Harry was actually attacking students or if he was actually innocent of the crimes in question.

Harry was thankful for the generosity of the Weasley twins, Ron's twin older Brothers. They had taken to escorting him through the halls numerous times, always with an upbeat attitude, and laughingly making joke proclamations about Harry being their Dark King and Emperor of Serpents. He hadn't realized what it was that they were doing until one night in the common room it was pointed out to him.

* * *

"I mean, it's nice and all." Harry began as he moved his rook to capture Ron's Pawn. "But they're shouting it out at everyone and it's getting people to look at me strange."

Ron swiftly captured Harry's rook with his bishop.

"I don't know mate." Ron replied. "They've always been strange like that, making strange pranks and making bad jokes."

Harry sighed as he realized that he was about to lose the game.

"You don't get it do ya harrikins." A familiar female voice interrupted the game of chess.

They looked towards the source and found Katie Bell, One of the Gryffindor Chasers and member of the Crimson Vixens, as the rest of the school called the trio of attractive female Chasers.

"What do you mean Katie?" Harry asked.

Katie smiled sadly at Harry.

"They're only doing it to look out for you." She pointed out to him.

"How are they looking out for him?" Ron asked. "They're parading him around saying that he's the one behind all the attacks. They're painting a target on his back."

Katie shook her head.

"Harry." She began. "While many of us don't believe that you're behind the attacks, like myself and the rest of the team, there are people that do. Now, while we'd all like to think that people are better than they really are, we know that they're not."

Harry was confused but didn't say anything, he just looked at her.

"How many people tried to hex you when you were first blamed for the attacks?"

"A few…" He replied.

"Harry." Katie raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips, looking akin to a mother scolding a child. There were snickers coming from several of the other members of Gryffindor, they were quickly stopped when she turned her eyes to them.

"Look out everyone."

"Big mama Katie's on the prowl."

Harry had to stifle a laugh when he saw who had just entered the common room.

"Fred! George!" she glowered at the twins.

"I warned you, Gred."

"Indeed, you did Forge."

"But you didn't listen did you George."

"Neither did you Fred."

"Hang on, weren't you Fred today?"

"That's enough!" Katie growled as she snared yanked the twins by their ears.

They were begging and crying for her to let them go. It was quite a sight, though it was also highly amusing because they were pleading in synch, finishing each other's sentences as they cried.

* * *

After that day Katie had taken to checking in on harry wherever he happened to cross paths with her, after two weeks she had his schedule down pat and would oft be seen around him when they had a free chance. Harry had commonly been seen with the twins when they had nothing better to do, or so it seemed to the rest of the school. Harry had been fortunate enough to get to know the other side of the twin pranksters of Hogwarts, this side was more akin to something that Hermione would have liked.

Fred and George didn't seem the type, though many would say that the twins were as far from the studious type than Lucius Malfoy was a selfless Golden Gryffindor student, but the twins surprised him when they showed him their little workshop, as they called it.

The abandoned classroom that they inhabited in their free time was concealed with something called 'The Notice-me-not ward', the twins had explained that it was actually used like a ward more than a charm, leading Harry to ask for an explanation.

{Line}

"Well you see Harry-" George began.

"This spell has many uses-" Fred finished.

"For many purposes." George gushed.

"Guys." Harry cut in, gaining their full, unvocal, attention. "It's not that I don't like the passive trauma that you spread with the twin-speak, but for this… Please, just for when you explain things like this, speak normally. Just this once, I won't even tell Katie that you're capable of doing it, she thinks that it's the only way you two can speak."

The twins shared a smirk at the information.

"Alright Harry." George nodded.

"Just for when we explain things." Fred agreed.

George continued to explain the spell.

"The Notice-me-not charm, as we attempted to explain earlier, is more often used as a ward."

"Which we'll explain later, they're really complicated and something we should reacquaint ourselves with before explaining to a second year." Fred cut in, saving any further explanations of wards to Harry.

"Right." George agreed. "Anyway, the spell, when used, causes an object, such as the door we use, or in the odd occasion a person, to be ignored by anyone that sees it. The spell completely prevents anyone from seeing the thing or person that the spell is cast on, but they can still feel it."

When George's explanation came to a halt Fred took over.

"If the spell is cast on a person someone could walk right past them, like wearing an Invisibility cloak would." Fred winked. "But we would still feel it if we bumped into that person or hear what they were saying."

"It's not the most powerful of concealment charms, but it's very useful for our needs." George offered offhandedly.

"Can you show me the spell." Harry asked.

The twins seemed to share a silent conversation for several seconds before they nodded. Fred walked off to grab something while George retrieved his wand.

"Now this spell is a little complicated, in the sense that it relies more on the wand movement than power, like spells commonly do." George started showing Harry the wand movement, a spiral starting from the outside working its way in, then finished in an ampersand **(A/N this symbol - &)**

Fred appeared during the time that George had shown Harry the wand movement.

"While it takes a while to get a handle on we've spent so much time performing the spell we can use it without the wand movement, and we can nearly use it silently as well." He winked at Harry, as if it was a secret joke between them.

It went right over Harry's head.

"I think that Harry's learning is better orientated toward actually performing the spell rather than learning like Hermione." Fred told his brother.

George nodded at his brother.

"I think you're right Brother dear."

They arranged various items on the table in front of Harry. There were numerous everyday objects like cups, several glass vials, random pieces of fruit and sweets.

"We've got some time, so why not teach young Harry the spell."

"Indeed, you're right yet again brother mine."

The twins looked towards Harry and started explaining how to perform the spell.

"What you need to do is start the wand movement outside the area of the object, the wand movement is supposed to encompass, that is; surround, the object that you want to case the spell on." Fred began.

"When the spiral reaches the middle of the object you want to cast the spell on, right as your making the last part of the wand movement you speak the spell." George pointed his wand to the green apple that was sitting on the table, a swift movement of his wand he spoke the spell's incantation. " _ **Extaspectus**_ "

Harry watched as a colourless ripple in the air surrounded the apple but the apple didn't change, move or vanish.

"Nothing happened…" Harry stated.

"Really?" Fred asked smugly.

Harry's eyes searched the red-haired twin prankster.

"Where's the apple?" Fred asked him.

"Right- Where'd it go?" Harry asked as he looked back at the table to point at the apple that had been sitting there a moment before.

Harry's eyes searched the table for the apple that he had seen the spell cast on mere moments before, when he couldn't see it he looked at each of the twins, thinking that they had taken the apple in order to fool him into thinking that the spell was real instead of a fake.

"You see, this spell is similar to the Disillusionment charm that you'll learn in a few years. Instead of the spell making you blend in with your surroundings, this spell just makes it harder for a person's eyes to lock onto it, like trying to find a single face in an ocean of people." George explained. "Once you take your eyes off that person it's extremely hard to find them once again, not impossible, but extremely hard to do."

"But once someone's eye is drawn back to the thing the spell was cast on." Fred drew Harry's attention, Harry's eyes locked onto his hand which was reaching for something on the table, his eyes widened when he saw that it was the apple that had been concealed by the Notice-Me-Not charm.

He saw as the apple was just there, there wasn't any form of special revelation the apple was just there, as if it had been there the entire time, which it was.

Harry and the twins spent hours together, the twins teaching Harry the spell that they had used to block the door, they also showed him how to use the Notice-Me-Not ward when he was able to use the charm reliably, Harry still needed to say the spell but he was able to use only part of the wand movement by the time that they were done.

As long as someone took their eyes off the item that the spell was cast on it would be difficult for anyone to find the item that they were searching for, the spell would work on most people but for those that were gifted enough to be meticulous, such as Hermione or Snape, they would easily be able to ignore the spell and find whatever it was that the spell was hiding, should they be looking for it that is.

"Then how do you hide the door from the Professors if they're looking for the door you use?" Harry asked them.

"Hear that Brother-mine." Fred grinned.

"Indeed, Younger brother." George smirked.

"Young Harry wants to learn all our secrets."

"But can he be trusted?" Gred pondered.

"Hmmm… I'm not sure Forge, how about a test?" the elder twin asked.

Harry suddenly got a devilish idea.

He carefully palmed his wand in his hand, turning it slowly with his fingers.

" _ **Extaspectus**_ " he breathed, it was loud enough that the twins were able to hear him, but it wasn't loud enough to make them actually assume he was casting it at them.

The twins' eyes locked onto Harry's wand.

"Oh, does little Harry believe he's able to get the drop on us, dear brother?"

"I'm not sure Fred."

"Perhaps we should see what he was trying to hide George."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Harry smirked, his eyes challenging.

"Oh! Me thinks little Harry's getting a bit big for his robe."

Harry didn't say anything as the twins attempted to figure out what it was that Harry had hidden from them. The trio had fun as the twins tried to figure out what Harry concealed from them. as they tried to figure it out they spent time explaining everything that they'd made when Harry expressed an interest in the prank candies that finished brewing while he was in the room. While they were explaining everything that they were planning and had designed Harry found a sheet with strange scribbles covering it. He didn't know what it was that they were but something told him that there was something missing from what was there.

The scribbles were in a strange language that Harry didn't recognize but from what he could tell they were arranged similar to words in a way that linked them together surrounding something that he'd been told was called 'Celtic Knotwork', also known as Icovellavna. He looked around at the other pieces of papers that were around the one that he'd picked up and seen that they were filled with different designs that seemed to be attempting to reach a result that he could see, but there were different designs on all of them. His eyes flicked between the pages and the different designs that were laid out across the small area, his mind piecing together all the different runes and letters that he could see.

For some reason everything seemed to be about linking the rune or symbol before it with the one that came after it, leading them all together to do something, it all lead to some kind of result that used the flow from all the other runes.

Just from looking at it Harry could tell that there was some kind of complicated magic at work.

"What're you looking at Harry?"

One of the twins snapped Harry out of the strange place his mind had been.

"Huh?"

The twins blinked at Harry's eloquent reply.

"What're you looking at?" The twins repeated together.

Harry simply lifted the sheet of paper to show them what he was looking at.

"Aah…" The twins replied, again together.

"We found those in the old enchanting classroom a while back." Fred suppled.

"Couldn't figure out what they were supposed to do." George replied, it was clear that Fred, or the twin Harry thought was Fred, was more interested in this than George was.

Who'd have thought that there was some difference in the twins.

"We figure that they were supposed to be a design for an enchantment that was never completed."

"Did you ask the teachers about it?" Harry asked.

Fred nodded, George had gone back to working on a potion that they had been working on while Harry was distracted.

"We took it to Professor Vector when we realized that it was far beyond anything that we could recognize, she had no clue what it was either, we gave her a copy but she said that it was an attempted enchantment plan but it was too incomplete for her or anyone she knew to figure out what it was supposed to do." Fred told Harry.

Harry nodded as his eyes looked over the enchantment design. There was something about it that interested him, he couldn't tell what it was, but it interested him.

"Can I keep it?" Harry asked.

Fred shrugged.

"We're not gonna use it, so feel free. But you don't start runes until next year, what are you going to use it for?"

Harry shrugged. "There's just something about it that makes me want to keep it."

Fred looked at Harry with curiosity.

"Hey Forge." Harry said after a few moments.

"Hmm…"

"Can you teach me runes and spells and stuff?"

The red-head shrugged as he looked over to his brother, who heard the question and nodded. "Sure."

* * *

After that day the twins and Harry were commonly seen around the castle talking, joking around and doing pretty much whatever they wanted to do. Students tended to keep a distance from them, as they normally did, but over the few times that Katie stopped by and spoke with the trio before being called away by someone or something that she needed to do, they were kept vaguely on school related subjects.

This had the added benefit of Harry slowly increasing his marks in all areas, as the twins had a rather talented skillset between the two.

While George, as it turned out, was the one that liked runes, Fred was better skilled in Potions and Arithmancy, they were equals in Herbology and charms. George was also skilled in transfigurations, though his skill was more technical where Fred's was more imaginative of the two. The practice duels that the two had were interesting.

Fred would be able to transfigure a variety of animated animals, while George was more likely to use a more versatile style where he would use debris from dodged spells to attack an opponent. Fred explained that duellists could be broken apart into several vague categories.

Speed; People that used spells of varying power as fast as they could in order to overwhelm an opponent.

Power; People that used powerful spells that would change the flow of a duel so much that the opponent/s wouldn't be able to keep to their original ideas.

Technique; People that followed pre-prepared plans and styles that may or may not suit them but worked because they were designed solely for the territory or opponent.

Fred's style was based in the technique category, using a select group of spells that allowed him to transfigure animals orientated to attack his opponents which would distract them enough that he'd be able to hit them with restraining spells, stunners, disarming spells or anything he was able to think of to end the duel.

George's style, on the other hand, was based mainly in the power category, while minoring in the technique category, he used environmental transfiguration to mould the battlefield to place himself in a better position to dodge and avoid spells, as well as place himself in a position where he would be able to conceal himself while attacking his opponents.

Neither of the two were shy about using spells that could cause harm, so they said. They had made a small list of spells that they were able to use, while many of them were spells that they would learn at school there were several spells that they had learnt by observing their mother, mostly household charms, that they found were usable in a fight when needed. It was an impressive list that they made, though many were beyond anything he'd be able to use, he did get them to teach him a few spells that would help him with housework, never know when those would come in handy.

The twins had revealed themselves to be a very complicated duo, even before Harry appeared on their radar, during their time at the school they had everything pretty much wired when they arrived, all of their brothers were of some form of sway, to varying degrees. Bill, or William as was his full name, was a master of charms and wards, the twins would often seek him out to learn something about a spell that was giving them trouble, as the oldest brother he would be more than happy to help them, he was also the one that got them started on pranks. Charlie was the second oldest child, a young man fascinated with all things Dragons, he was easily one of the most popular students within Hogwarts as he didn't subscribe to the 'House Politics' that other students did. Then came Percy, the third eldest. A Weasley that could have fit in with Slytherin, there was no doubt. He had the ambition and drive that would see him far, but he was not the smartest of people, nor well-liked by even those of his kin for his steadfast opinion against his father's interest, one could easily suggest he followed the Pureblood Dogma that many Slytherin's followed.

Each of the Brothers had their own parts to play in the twin's stealthy play for connections throughout the school, Percy had connections with the Ravenclaw's and even a few Slytherin's that weren't against helping the twins plant a few pranks on fellow housemates, Charlie had the connections with Hufflepuff and the rest of the Gryffindor's that Percy was disliked by, Bill had every other connection that the twins would ever need during the time he was at school.

By the end of their first year they had a solid network of people with knowledge, means and resources that they were able to access, oft for a price that the twins were happy to negotiate.

* * *

Unfortunately, with all good things that seemed to happen throughout Harry's life, things started falling apart. It seemed to take a turn for the worst, to a greater degree when Harry, Ron and Hermione all returned to the common room so they could return their books to their trunks so Harry and Ron could go down and enjoy the Quidditch match, Ron to watch and cheer for Gryffindor and Harry to play for them. They were met with Neville Longbottom running down the corridor towards the trio.

"Harry! Harry, I don't know who did it, but you better come." He puffed, clearly, he had been running around looking for him. "Come on!"

Harry, Hermione and Ron looked at each other before they took off after the excited Gryffindor. They raced through the remaining corridors, quickly spoke the password and rushed into the common room, up the stair case and into the Male dormitory that the boys shared.

They slowed when they entered the dorm and saw what it was that Neville had been looking to tell Harry about.

All his things were in shambles, broken glass littered the floor around his bed, parchment was crumbled up and tossed on the ground, a broken Lantern lay on the floor, several photo frames were nothing but broken pieces of wood with shards of glass in them. Books were laying open, several of which seemed to have been torn into as if by a wild beast. His bed had been tossed, his pillows were destroyed by someone tearing them apart littering the immediate area around his bed with feathers, even the dresser next to his bed was left open with things hanging out of it.

"It looks like something you'd see in one of my dad's Police shows." Hermione voiced when she saw everything. Ron and Neville looked at Hermione in confusion, but she ignored them.

Harry moved forward without saying a word, he placed the books he'd been carrying on the ground and went through the books that were laying on the ground.

"It had to be a Gryffindor." She said. "No one knows our password. Unless it wasn't a student."

Ron shook his head.

"Whoever it was, must have been looking for something."

"And they found it." Harry replied.

The standing trio looked at Harry, who turned to look at the group.

"Tom Riddle's diary is gone." He stated.

Neville had no idea what was happening and kept quiet. Hermione was about to say something when Professor McGonagall entered the dorm.

"Mr. Potter." She breathed out.

"It wasn't him professor." Hermione stated in his defence.

"Clearly." The head of house stated. "Don't worry Mr. Potter I'll see to it all this is fixed up and anything that needs to be replaced shall be ordered for you, it shouldn't take too long to order any books that you might need."

Harry looked at the books that were laying in front of him.

"It doesn't look like any books have been taken, or anything has been broken, other than the mirror, drapes and bedding. All my stationary is in my bag." He said as he patted said bag that was strapped over his shoulder.

"Very well then." McGonagall said.

They were quickly sent on their way, Hermione walked with Harry and Ron until they reached the first floor where she split from the others and made her way to the library, still attempting to catch up and surpass where she suspected her housemates were levelled at. Harry and Ron continued their journey to the quidditch pitch, they were talking about everything that had happened, as they had been with Hermione before she had a thought and headed towards the library.

Ron, as per normal was more interested in the Quidditch game he was about to see rather than the mess that someone had made of Harry's bed.

"Don't worry about it Harry." He moaned. "She said that everything would be put right by time we got back to the common room later tonight, lets just enjoy the game against Hufflepuff, their seekers got a new broom, a Comet 260."

"Don't worry about it Harry." A familiar voice cut in.

Harry turned to see Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood.

"The 260 might be a good, solid broom, but it still has nothing on the manoeuvrability of a 2000. You just need to watch out for those bludgers, don't want you spending another night getting that arm of yours regrown." Wood winked at Harry before going on ahead into the locker room.

"I better go Ron." Harry told his… Friend?

Harry's mind started to wander as he broke away from Ron and headed into the locker room to change into his quidditch gear. He had a strange look on his face when he walked into the hall leading to the locker room.

"Harry?" A female voice called out to him.

He turned to see Angelina, another of the Chaser Trio.

"You ok?" She asked.

Harry blinked but looked at the ground.

"I don't know, nothing I guess."

"Harry." Angelina sighed but smiled warmly at him.

She walked over to him and placed her broom on the floor as she kneeled down to look him in the eye.

"You know you can talk to us if you need to."

She placed a warm finger under his chin.

"You know that yeah?" She asked him.

He didn't meet her eyes but nodded.

Angelina frowned when she saw that he wouldn't meet her eye.

"How about we sit down and hang out tomorrow since there's no classes, the whole team." She offered.

Harry just shrugged.

Seeing that she wouldn't win with him brooding as he was.

"We'll chat after the game, ok Hare." She kissed him on the head and picked up her broom. "Go get changed, Oliver wants to go over the game plan right before the game."

Harry nodded and walked off into the Male locker room.

"What's keeping ya Angie?" Alicia and Katie were standing together waiting for her.

Angelina just looked at where Harry had just walked for a second longer before walking over to the girls.

"Have either of you two noticed that Harry's been… odd lately?" She asked them.

Alicia shook her head. "Not really, though Katie would know better than I would since she goes and checks in with him when she gets a chance."

"Katie?" Angelina pressed.

"I think that there's something that's been bugging him. I mean, he's been hanging out with the twins more than he has Ron or Hermione." Katie told the girls. "You know how it was after Halloween last year and most of the year, they were inseparable until after the Christmas holidays. Do you think something happened?"

Alicia shook her head. "I know that Hermione spent a week in the hospital wing and no one was allowed to see her, even Harry and Ron. After she was released she's been spending most of her time in the Library, I mean I know that she spent lots of time there before but _now_ …"

"It's like she's living there and only visits the common room like she would… I don't know… a relative's house." Angelina added.

"Do you think we should ask the twins what they know? I mean they said that they brought Harry to the Burrow before the start of the year and that he travelled with them to the platform." Katie asked.

"After the game?" Alicia asked.

"After the game." Angelina and Kate agreed.

They followed the twins to listen to Wood go over the game plan for the match before the game.

* * *

"Alright, listen up." Wood concluded. "We play our game and Hufflepuff won't stand a chance."

Wood grabbed his broom, the rest of the team grabbed theirs and started following him out onto the pitch.

"We're stronger, quicker and smarter."

"Not to mention their dead scared that Harry will petrify them if they fly anywhere near him." Fred commented.

Wood shrugged "Well that too."

They walked out of the locker room and saw students rushing around. Wood narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he looked around and saw Professor McGonagall walking towards them.

"Professor McGonagall." Wood greeted.

The professor held a piece of parchment in her hand as she addressed the team.

"This match has been cancelled." She stated.

Wood glanced at Harry who was standing beside him before looking back at the professor.

"You can't cancel Quidditch." Wood Stated.

"Silence wood." McGonagall told the captain, she pointed the parchment at him and the team. "You and your teammates will go to Gryffindor tower."

Wood groaned but didn't say anything else as he lead the team to the common room.

"Potter." The professor addressed Harry. "You and I will find Mr. Weasley, there is something the two of you will have to see."

Harry blinked at the ominous tone but said nothing as they went in search of Ron.

* * *

As the rest of the Quidditch team entered the castle Fred seemed to notice that someone was missing.

"Hey, where'd Harry go?" he asked the team.

"McGonagall kept him back." Alicia told the ginger. "She said something about finding your brother."

The twins looked at each other, having one of their famous silent conversations with each other that they were known to have from time to time. It was strange to watch as they would often make small movements but wouldn't actually move their arms or rest of their body as one would in a normal conversation.

"Fred, George." Katie disturbed the twins conversational staring.

"Yes."

"Dear mother Katie?"

Katie rolled her eyes at the nickname that she had been given by the twins since she often went out of her way to check in on Harry, they often teased her and said she was mothering him too much, though they never heard Harry complain about it, and she should let Harry do as Harry wanted. She would just level her best glare at the two of them and they'd overreact and scramble away.

"You two said that Harry was staying with you before the start of the year, right?"

They nodded.

"That's correct."

"We brought him from his relative's house and-"

"Relatives?" Angelina butted in. "Don't you mean 'family's house'?"

The twins shook their head as they walked up the flight of stairs towards the common room.

"He's always called them that." Gred voiced.

"In fact, he's never called them family in the whole time we've known him." Forge told them.

"Well that's not good." Oliver said, revealing that he had been listening the whole time.

"How so?" Angelina asked. She's always had a good relationship with her parents and family, they weren't always on the best of terms but they were always her family no matter what.

"Well, if he always calls them 'Relatives' he's not considering them family, now is he?" Oliver asked as if the answer was clear as day.

They were silent the rest of the short walk into the common room. As they entered the room Katie looked turned to talk to Angelina when she noted that the twins had a strange look on their faces while sharing a silent conversation, she saw that Fred gave George, though she wasn't sure which was which, a small shrug that screamed ' _I'm not sure_ ' and something seemed to click in her mind. Faster than it took the twins to blink she had both the taller red-heads by the ears and was pulling on them hard.

"What. Do. You. Know?" She growled through gritted teeth.

This got everyone's attention.

The twins were on the ground begging for Katie to let them go, the quidditch team, that was Angelina, Alicia and Oliver, watched along with the rest of the Gryffindor's as the two boisterous members of their house, renown for their pranks and larger than life attitudes, were reduced to nothing more than babbling children to someone that was clearly younger than them.

It was extremely amusing.

* * *

Meanwhile;

"I must warn you, this may be a wee bit of a shock." McGonagall warned Harry and Ron.

As soon as Harry saw the familiar shoes and robes that were stiffly laying on the hospital bed he moved quickly to stand next to where Madam Pomfrey was checking over the patient laying in her care.

He barely restrained a whimper when he saw that it was Hermione petrified in an odd position, it was as if she had been holding something as she was petrified.

"Hermione!" Ron breathed out weakly.

Harry didn't say anything, worried about what he would say if he did speak.

"She was found near the library." McGonagall said. "Along with this."

She picked up a hand mirror and showed it to the boys. The light reflected off the mirror and danced across Harry's and Ron's chest.

"Does this mean anything to either of you?" McGonagall asked.

They both looked at their head of house.

"No." Harry offered weakly, before turning his attention back to Hermione's still form.

He reached out and touched her extended hand. It was like touching a smooth, skin covered statue that had been outside in the cold London wind, cool, frigid stone. They remained in the hospital wing for a while before Poppy informed the boys that they needed to leave. Ron left without much prompting but Harry needed to be escorted out by Professor McGonagall.

Roughly an hour later Professor McGonagall returned to the common room with the same piece of parchment that she had been holding earlier in the day. She could easily see that there was a tension in the room that hadn't been there the day before, if she was being honest with herself she would admit that it both saddened and warmed her heart to see Harry was surrounded by the Quidditch team, who were still wearing their sporting gear, while Ron was sitting on the other side of the room playing chess with Dean and Seamus.

There was still the clear ring of avoidance surrounding the area that Harry was seated at, though this encompassed the Quidditch team as well since they were sitting with him.

"Can I have your attention, please." She called out, garnering the attention from everyone in the common room. "As per the results of recent events." She had to try hard not to glare that the numerous members of her house that sharply looked at Harry and the Quidditch team. "These new rules shall be put into effect immediately."

This had everyone's attention focussed on her and solely her.

"All students will return to their house common rooms by Six O'clock, every evening." She read aloud.

"All students will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No exceptions." She rolled the parchment up as she observed the reactions that played out through the common, she was disappointed to see that there were several glares, angry or not, sent towards Harry and the twins were seated.

"I should tell you this." Her soft but ominous tone made her the center of attention once more. "Unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught, with _evidence_ , it will be likely the school will be closed."

Not trusting herself to retain her composure, McGonagall swiftly turned and made her way out of the common room before anyone was able to say anything to her or ask about the new rules.

Unseen by everyone in the common a pair of eyes looked towards the ground as well as searching for anyone that was looking at them, just in case they had been discovered or suspected to be the culprit. That would ruin his plans, something that couldn't happen, he would need to wait and let things quiet down before he did.

Eventually everyone started making their way around, as it was the weekend there weren't many things that needed to be done. Professor Hooch, the school's flying instructor and Quidditch referee, appeared in the doorway of the common and informed students that she would be leading students to the library within half an hour so many decided that they would go and get some homework completed since there wasn't anything else to do. Harry had retreated to his dorm room while the rest of the Quidditch team seemed to be in some kind of intense conversation about something, they weren't able to be overheard because of the twins' privacy ward, something they promised that they would teach Harry next year.

Harry was greeted with the presence of Ron after some time when Harry was going through everything that had been repaired to see if there was anything else that had been taken other than the diary belonging to Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was fortunate that his photo album of his parents was still in the bottom of his trunk, along with the Invisibility cloak. They were two of his most precious possessions, bar his wand.

"Anything else missing?" Ron asked when he saw Harry going through his things.

Harry shook his head and sighed as he sat on his bed.

"Nothing other than the diary." He replied.

They lapsed into a partially awkward silence as they realized that they didn't really know what to do now that Hermione was petrified and residing in the infirmary with all the others that were currently suffering the same as she was.

"We've got to talk to Hagrid, Ron." Harry told the Redhead after several minutes of silence. "I can't believe that it's him but if he did set the monster loose last time, he'll know how to get inside the chamber of secrets. That's a start."

Harry was looking at the canopy of his bed and didn't see the redhead look at him as if he'd sprouted a second head and professed his love for Draco Malfoy.

"You heard McGonagall!" He quietly shouted at Harry, hoping that they weren't about to be overheard. "We're not allowed to leave the tower, except for class."

Harry hadn't looked at his friend but nodded never the less, agreeing with what he'd said.

"I think it's time to get my dad's old cloak out again." Harry replied seriously.

"I don't know mate; do you really think it's a good idea to go out after curfew?"

"Who's going out?"

"And after curfew no less."

Both boys turned sharply to see that Fred and George were standing in the doorway.

' _They have a wicked sense of timing._ ' Harry thought.

"No one. We didn't say anything, did we Harry?" Ron horribly lied, his voice crackling with fright.

"I am." Harry replied, feeling oddly confident. "I've got a lead on something I think can help solve the problems with the school, hopefully we can stop it from being closed down."

The twins looked at Harry, then each other, then Ron, then each other and finally back at Harry.

"We're in." was their simultaneous reply.

"Your barmy." Ron breathed out, finally finding a leg to stand on apparently. "I can't do it Harry. I know you'd do anything for me if I was in the same position but I'm just not sure it's a good idea so… You'll have to count me out this time."

A flash of anger surged through Harry when he heard Ron's reply.

"After everything that we've been through with her." Harry sharply retorted. "The Troll."

Ron flinched, he still felt guilty for what happened that day. It was only because of Harry forcing him to go find Hermione, then working together to defeat the troll, that they had become friends.

"Fluffy." Ron flinched again.

The twins remained silent as they saw everything unfold. They'd not seen Harry react like this, they'd seen him annoyed and aggravated with everything that had happened around him throughout the year, but this Harry was one that had planted his feet and said 'I've Had Enough'.

They could feel the capital letters.

"The Devils Snare." Ron flinched once more.

"The Chess Board." Another flinch.

"It was Hermione that carried you back to the trap door and got help so you wouldn't be in any more danger."

Ron looked away from Harry in shame.

"After all that, the research to figure out about the stone. The hours of time that we'd spent together working out how to stop Snape from taking it."

This piqued the twin's attention., having not heard about this adventure.

"After all that, and flying your dad's car, Hermione's quick reaction that stopped Dobby's bludger from cannonballing into my head at the end of the match Lockhart removed the bones in my arm. After everything she's done for us, for You. You would just abandon her for what?"

All three Weasley's knew he was not awaiting an answer.

"For not wanting to get caught outside the tower? For more time to play chess with Seamus? To talk Quidditch with Dean?"

Fred and George knew then and there that Harry had finally hit his limit with their brother.

"Fine!" Harry nearly shouted. "There's no need for you to come, I'll go alone if I must; someone has to do something to prevent the school from closing. If you want to do nothing other than play needless games when there are greater things at stake then don't let me get in your way Ronald."

The Weasley's blinked. The twins had never heard Harry call him by his full name, he was always 'Ron'. Ron felt as if he'd been struck, Harry's voice was so full of loathing and anger that it seemed to have a power of its own. Neither of the three were able to say anything when they heard

"Don't get in my way." Harry practically ordered.

As if his life relied on it Ron bolted out of the dorm.

The whole world seemed to be silent for what seemed to be several hours before another voice entered the room.

"Hey, what's keeping you three?"

As one they turned to see Katie was standing at the door.

"Well?"


	4. A Potter Scorned Chapter 2

_August 22_ _nd_ _2004, Melbourne, Australia  
11:39 pm_

Harry slung an off shaded brown duffle bag through the air and nodded when it landed with a heavy thud atop the other bags that were sitting in the corner of the dining room surrounded by his team and Janet.

"Do we have everything we need?" Harry asked the group.

"Yep!" Janet chirped happily from where she was sitting atop Victoria's lap.

The 32-year-old brunette kissed Janet on the head as she gave a nod to Harry before going back to reading a book softly aloud to Janet, effectively keeping her occupied until they needed to leave.

Tony, Victoria's Husband, standing at an intimidating six foot three, with natural short white hair, a tough square jaw, a skin tight black shirt with blue jeans completing the look with simple black boots, steel capped of course, was leaning against the wall watching wistfully at the pair, he didn't need to answer Harry as Victoria packed their things together and would ensure that they had everything that they needed, she was always prepared like that.

"We've got everything packed." Came another voice from the kitchen.

Harry glanced into the kitchen and saw that it was Robert, another member of his team, also one of the first members of it. Robert had been one of the first people that even joined his squad when he first started out, from then on, he'd gained the others.

Robert was the most serious of the team, also being the oldest, he stood at a respectable five foot eleven, with medium length golden blond hair and neatly trimmed moustache, he also had a pair of gunmetal grey square full framed glasses in front of his blue eyes, he wore plaid grey sweater and black slacks.

"I also ensured that the twins bags were packed." Robert continued "They tried to bring nothing but those ridiculous short shorts that they've taken a liking to." He shook his head. "I've told them numerous times that England was not as warm as Melbourne, but they don't listen to me."

Harry shrugged.

"Wolves rarely listen to anyone not their Alpha." He said.

Robert sighed.

"That's the worst thing about the two of them."

Harry glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Where are they anyway? I haven't seen them since you walked in with them." Harry asked.

"They're in your room Daddy." Janet answered.

Harry's chin hit his chest as his shoulders slumped.

"I thought I told them that they weren't to go into my room." He groaned as he rose to his feet. "They better not have stolen my shirts again."

He ignored the snickering from the others as he walked away. It was almost depressing just how many times that they'd stolen his clothes, and those were the few times that he'd caught them, there were countless more times that they'd just shown up somewhere wearing some of his favourite shirts, or pants, was embarrassing.

But he'd known what he was getting into when he brought them onto the squad and under his wings.

Harry opened the door to his bedroom and saw that the lights were off, he was mildly thankful that his computers screensaver gave the room a soft light since he'd not covered the screen like he normally did when he slept, though the blinds were still closed as he'd hardly ever open them as he had a habit of working for several hours on his computer, tending to work all night on carious projects that came his way, or coming home and crashing onto the bed only to sleep for most of the next day. He looked towards the bed and saw the outline of two bodies curled up together.

He stepped into the room and waited for a reaction, knowing that while they were still asleep they were no less vigilant of their surroundings. When he didn't hear anything, he started taking slow deliberate steps towards his bed, thankful that he'd cleaned up the remnants of the mess he'd made over the several days he'd been sequestered in his room, he stopped when he heard a low growl, he instantly recognized it for what it was, a simple warning to identify who was there.

He gave a low growl of his own, originating deep in his throat.

It wasn't a threatening growl, but a simple one that gave his identity as their superior.

As soon as his growl was heard he saw the twins' eyes snap open, both glowing an ethereal Sapphire blue. He gave out a small growl that was meant to comfort the two.

While he'd been around the twins for the last three years they still had some of the habits that they'd been raised with when he'd met them, so he was always ready to display his place as the, so called, Alpha to the two, who considered themselves Beta rank, the same as they had been in the pack he'd met them in. When their eyes faded back to their normal colour, though still glowed slightly, he continued moving forward leaning forward slightly as he walked and seamlessly changed form, padding across the remaining few feet and easily made the small jump onto the bed.

He sniffed the two of them, after so long he'd learnt long ago that different emotions smelt differently, acting as a secondary odour from a person and while he had the ability in human form, his animagus' sense of smell was better than his forms. Both twins were excited, that was the clearest smell, there was also weariness, longing and a small hint of lust connected to their own scents.

He nuzzled his head against the twins and gave them a small lick, prodding them back to full awareness and out of their post-sleep bleariness.

"Why won't you do this as a person?" one of the twins asked.

Harry looked at the twin that spoke, taking in her physical appearance.

This was the older twin, Bethany. She had long black hair that went past her shoulders in alluring curls and chocolate brown eyes to go with her naturally tanned skin tone, like her sister she was Lithe and fairly toned from her regular physical training and natural metabolism. Her voice was smooth and alluring

Bethany reached up and ran a soft hand through Harry's fur around the side of his head by his cheek and ear.

"You know we'd do anything for you."

There were hints of her natural accent poking through her retrained ability to speak. Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head into Bethany's hand as her nails ghosted along his sensitive nerves.

It was times like this that made him remember the conditions that he'd found the two under, something he'd wanted to forget while always remembering what they had survived, the struggles that they'd overcome against all odds. He wished that he'd never needed to subjugate them, but they weren't accustomed to being around someone that wasn't either a member of the pack, thus fair game, a superior, thus someone they were forced to obey, or an enemy, someone that they were supposed to kill under order from said superiors.

They had attempted to kill him as were their orders, but he'd been unable to do the same and had ended up doing everything short of killing them and breaking their bodies until they realized that he wasn't going to die by their hands.

"Why won't you let us show you." The other twin voiced, her hand coming up and lightly gripping his snout, turning him to face her.

Joanna, the younger sister, looked exactly like her older sister, though her hair was naturally straight and silky compared to the curls, her Amber eyes showing her emotions clear to Harry like her scent did.

Physically the twins weren't too different with Joanna being only a few inches shorter than her sister, the difference barely recognizable from anything other than a short distance away.

Harry moved away from Bethany's hand and nuzzled his cheek against her own.

"We will always be with you, no matter what." Joanna kissed him on the nose, he blew warm air in her face, something he did which always elicited a small giggle from her.

He nudged Joanna making her move on the bed.

Harry moved off the bed and changed back.

"Come on, it's nearly time to leave." Harry told them. "You two need to be dressed, the weather is cold over there and we've got everything packed so you won't be able to change until we get the campsite set up."

The twins let out a pathetic groan as he walked away, to which Harry smirked at but ultimately ignored as he walked back into the dining room.

"They'll be out in a few minutes." He said as he entered the dining room to the smell of food being placed on the table.

Robert was a decent cook, though Harry did cook himself as needed being the person in charge of raising a young girl. Robert tended to be the one regulated to cooking duty when the group was together and made to cook their own food instead of getting something ordered in, which tended to save time when they were working.

Harry was right when he said that the twins would be out of his room within a few minutes, though they all laughed at his reaction to what the girls were wearing when they walked into the room.

Bethany was wearing one of his black V-neck shirts, which wouldn't be too bad except that his shirts were commonly Extra Large, because he preferred baggy clothing when he wasn't working, the shirt on Bethany's lithe form hung alluringly low on her C-cup breasts, granting those that looked a gracious view of her breasts. He was thankful that she had decided to wear pants instead of the short shorts that they liked to wear, though he was slightly annoyed that it was a pair of his jeans with a pair of runners to complete the look, though they were also his.

Joanna on the other hand wore a white shirt that was clearly a size too small for her that it clung like a second skin around her torso showing without a doubt how endowed she was, being the same as her sister, as well as just how firm her torso was from the apparent out line of her abs, she also wore a pair of tight skinny jeans and a pair of his steel-capped work boots.

"Do you really have to steal my clothes girls." He whined.

"Yes." They answered at the same time.

"You should just give up Harry." Victoria said, placing the book she was reading to Janet on the table so they could both eat. "You know that they're only doing it to mark their territory."

"There's no such thing as winning when a woman is involved mate." Tony chipped in, then flinched at the glare he received from Victoria. "There's only damage control."

He tried to move away from his now annoyed wife, but failed thanks to how close he was to the wall.

Victoria levelled a glare at Tony before looking back at Harry, without the glare.

"They want you to accept them, and while I don't agree with their methods, I can accept what they are trying to do." She told him. "You saved their lives, saved both theirs, mine and Tony's as well. For that there is nothing that we can do to ever repay you for that. The closest that the twins can get to showing you how much you mean to them is exactly what they're doing. By using your clothes, and shoes, they're covering themselves in your scent, marking them as your property.

"If everyone was like them, and yourself, being able to smell the things that they smelt and understood it the way that they do, then they would be considered either your property, girlfriends or even your wives." Victoria smirked evilly when she saw the blush that crept over Harry's face.

Although Harry was 18 he'd spent most of his life around Janet and never really did what other guys his age did, chase after girls, he'd sparsely dated a few girls from school over the years but no one ever seemed to work out the way that he'd hoped. So, when the twins crossed his path, coupled with how forward the two were, it tended to be more of a show for the others in his life than anything he could enjoy. He had almost considered himself a parent to the two but over time he seemed to take the position of a close friend that almost seemed like family to them, which was also another reason why he'd never taken them up on their repetitive offers.

"You know that they are going to keep trying no matter what you keep telling them, right?" Robert asked as he placed a plate of food in front of Harry.

"I'm more than aware." He said as he started eating.

The sounds of cutlery scraping against each other and crockery filled the apartment as everyone was enjoying the meal that Robert made. Harry noted Janet snuggling against Victoria as her eyes seemed to flicker between full awareness and slumber.

They enjoyed the meal and sat at the table for another half hour before a whistle broke through the conversation. Harry's eyes darted to the clock on the wall, seeing that it was 1:00am, he gave a nod to Robert who had been cleaning the dishes from the late meal that they had been having.

"I'll get the bags." Tony voiced as everyone started getting everything ready for their departure.

"Girls, since you've already helped yourselves to my clothes, you might as well grab one of my Jackets too." Harry told them.

A few minutes later Tony had put all the bags in the car and Harry was seated in the back of a sleek black Holden Colorado, Janet sitting on his lap and both twins on either side of himself. Victoria was sitting in the passenger's seat and Tony was driving, Robert was riding his motorbike to the parking space. A short few minutes later Harry was sitting with the group, a somewhat bleary-eyed Janet, a pair of excited twins, and three interested adults, in the International portkey hub.

"Now remember Janet, there's going to be a bit of noise, strong wind and bright lights. Just keep calm, breathe, and it'll all be over in a few minutes." He told Janet.

She squeezed her eyes tight and rubbed her eyes.

"I know Daddy, you told me this earlier." She replied.

"I know Janet, but this isn't like the normal portkey's that you take with Lilliana. This is a lot longer and will be harder on your body than normal portkeys are." He told her. "Remember to keep breathing, slow deep breathes will help you level out when we arrive."

Janet nodded, looking more awake than she did before.

 _ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PORTKEY 3511298 TO QUIDDITCH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP; DEPARTING IN TWENTY SECONDS._

"Keep calm, don't panic. Keep breathing. If you're going to close your eyes, keep them shut tight, it'll stop you from hurting your eyes during the journey." Harry told her.

"Okay daddy."

 _HAVE A SAFE TRIP AND ENJOY THE WORLD CUP._

Without any further warning they felt a strange forceful pull on their center and were launched into a tundra of light, screaming winds and violent rumbles. Janet was gripping her seat so hard her knuckles were white and her eyes were clenched shut, attempting to block out everything that she was seeing. Harry's eyes were locked on Janet, worried about how she was faring as she had never taken an international portkey like this before, the regular ones were a tough yank on a person's center, loud noises and a bit of a rough ride, like travelling fast over a rough dirt road, Portkeys like this one were much more intense.

 _England, Quidditch world cup, International Portkey Entrance  
12:45pm_

There was a solid feeling of impact then everything was different.

There were no blinding lights, screaming winds or violent shaking.

There was a warm light on Harry's face, there were sounds of excitement and cheering off in the distance.

He looked around and saw that they had landed in a large open field with the sun shining down and people were seen over the crest of a nearby hill.

The sound of heavy panicking breathing caused his eyes to snap back to Janet.

"Shit." Harry swore and he violently fought to get his harness off.

He scrambled over to Janet's seat, placing his calloused hands against her soft cheeks.

"Janet. Janet." He said her name attempting to get her attention, but her eyes kept darting around looking at everything as if they couldn't focus on anything.

"Oi, c'mon and get a move on." Some random person called out at Harry.

Unseen to him, focusing so much on Janet, he didn't see Tony slamming a fist into the fools' stomach, causing the wind to be knocked out of him.

"Just listen to the sound of my voice Janet, you're ok. There's nothing that can hurt you, you're ok Janet." He left her strapped in but wrapped her in his arms, repeating the words until she stopped struggling.

Harry leaned back slightly, just enough to get a look at Janet. He smiled when he saw that she had been overwhelmed and fallen asleep.

"Here."

Harry looked up to see Victoria holding her arms out to take Janet for him. Harry moved to the side allowing Victoria to release the harness and lift the sleeping eight-year-old into her arms, she didn't see the sorrowful smile that appeared on Harry's face when Janet snuggled closer to the older woman's warm body.

Harry and the group started making their way towards the check in station, Robert and the twins shooting a dark, and dangerous in case of the twins, look towards the man that had attempted to cause trouble before having the wind knocked out of him meant that they weren't hindered any more.

* * *

"For fucks sake!" Harry groaned aloud. "Can't those fucking asses do anything right? Where's Polaris?"

"China."

"Mane? I know he loves his sports and politics more than anything."

"Geneva. Dealing with the ICW."

"Kyle?"

"Medical leave, three broken ribs and a shattered femur."

"Aponte?"

"Maternity."

"Good for her, send my best." Harry offered. "Vazsony?"

"Honeymoon."

"Dick." Harry swore. "Kaczmarek?"

"Necromancer in Taipei."

"Where's Miroslav, Zlatka and Aleksander?" He barked "They're from that region shouldn't they be dealing with this shit!"

"Yes, they are from Bulgaria and Miroslav is there, Alek and Zlatka are dealing with their own assignments, Aleksander is remaining behind, and yes, he did carry on like normal about it, taking command over the Bulgarian and Macedonian Branch because Romania and Serbia have been increasingly agitated over some up and coming Dark lord."

"Do we have any details about this newcomer?" Harry asked, his tone was serious.

"Nothing concrete. But from what we can confirm everything is rumour and could be taken care of in house."

Harry nodded. "Then why do I have to deal with this shit?!"

"Because you're the highest ranked in the area."

"Can't we just have… What's her name again?" Harry snapped his fingers several times. "You know, that blonde chick, you know who I'm talking about. Long hair, evil glint in her eye, decent rack…"

"Mean right hook?"

"Yeah, her. It's her backyard, make her do it."

"Delian, Druella Delian. Rank 78. Also known as the Sapphire Alchemist. She's dealing with the Irish."

Harry winced sympathetically.

"Yeah… They tried to bring something I can't even pronounce to the cup and nearly broke the statue in the middle of the Thames."

"Fucking Irish." Harry swore.

"Yep! So, guess what?"

"I'm not happy about this Div." Harry stated. "I took the Korean job for this Vacation time. Do you know what it's like dealing with _that_ sack of crazy? I'm still trying to repair my legs from that job."

"I know what happened in Korea!" Div shouted at Harry. "Don't forget who had to put you back together when you got stateside."

"I didn't ask for your fucking CIA to get involved with the IAA's business, they gave it to us in the first place, Feist was supposed to deal with that shit with Polaris."

Div sighed, he knew he wasn't going to win anytime soon.

"How much?"

"Five, complete." Was Harry's immediate reply.

"Fuck No!" Div shouted.

"Five."

"None."

"Five, or I enjoy the cup with the rest of the people."

Div said nothing for several seconds.

"One." He conceded.

"Four."

"One." Div stated firmly.

"Not worth it."

Div groaned. "One, seats with the diplomats, the good ones."

Harry considered the offer before adding something of his own.

"Delivery in person, in two weeks. Janet's been asking about you." Harry replied. "I'll also need a stone."

Silence was heavy for a long time.

"You better have a good fucking reason to ask for one of them after everything that the twenty-three of us went through."

"Div, you know me, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. Short of making my own, a line you know I would _never_ cross. I know more than you do about those heathenistic things, there are things worse than what I've divulged down there."

"We're going to be having a very serious talk when we see each other."

"I know Div, and you're not going to like what I have to say."

"Victoria already has the tickets, she also packed your gear and the twins', they're working with you until the day after the game. You'll be heading security as the ICW's official representative in charge of security, I recommend getting some rest then storming out in full uniform and barking orders, dropping names and _NOT_ people."

Before he had the chance to answer the call dropped out.

Harry dropped his phone on the couch as he realized that he'd been played by Victoria and Div.

"Victoria, you're a pain in the neck." Harry scolded the older woman as she walked into the room.

"I know." She smirked.

"Wake me in a few hours." Harry said as he walked towards his room.

"What do you need the stone for Harry?" Victoria asked. "I know you don't need it for your other legs, I helped you design your new ones and we based the design on the old ones, I know them just as well as you do."

"I know you were listening to what we were saying, but Vic." Harry began, using the affectionate nickname he'd mocked her with when he was younger and they'd first met. "We sealed away everything from where the twenty-three Alchemists found the Chimera Lab. But I… I found more than I'd ever wanted to discover there.

"I was the youngest one there, and one of the most powerful after everything that I've gone through. It's because of _that_ event that I found something that everyone else were unable to see. I only wish that I was unable to forget what I saw. I need the stone to ensure that it's kept sealed away, it's the only way that I can ensure it happens in such a way that not even I can unseal those horrors."

Without waiting for an answer Harry went into his room and removed his shirt before collapsing onto his bed. He was joined by the twin's minutes later as he nearly drifted off to sleep. The changed of weight as the twins joined him on the bed, buried themselves against his body and fell asleep before he did, kept him awake for a small period longer. Harry slipped one arm under Joanna's head to act as a pillow for the younger twin and allowed Bethany to wrap her arm around Harry, who was laying on his side, to hold them all together.

* * *

 _Quidditch World Cup, England 22_ _nd_ _August._

 _4:30pm – London time_

Harry checked his watch, he had yet to match the current time zone he was in, and saw that it was currently 3:30 am, by Melbourne standards. He let out a tired groan, not wanting to leave his current place between the twins' warm bodies, they were positioned in a way that he wasn't compressed between them but he could feel the warmth and closeness radiating from their bodies. In short, they were comfortable to lay down with in the cool weather of England, they had also forgotten to place a blanket over themselves and just lay on top of the bed that they'd had in the magically expanded tent.

"Harry." Roberts mature tone came from the entryway.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Everything's ready, I have the reports and schedules of security routes." He replied.

Harry nodded and sadly relinquished his position between the two girls, who groaned as they were woken up by his movements.

"Who's in charge of security?"

Robert flicked through the papers that he was holding.

"Some guy named… Rufus Scrimgeour." Robert replied.

"We got anything on him?"

"No criminal actions that turned up on a cursory look, nothing logged with the ICW that was worth being mentioned in the file."

Harry removed his shirt and flung it into the corner atop the hamper that was sitting there as he walked behind a dressing screen.

"Have someone look through his record over the last five years, just the basics." Harry's voice came from behind the screen. "Questionable spell usage, excessive force reports, Internal Affairs reviews and the like."

Robert nodded his head as he made the notation, not that Harry could see it.

"Who's taking care of Janet while I'm working?" He asked as he emerged from behind the screen wearing clean clothing. "I was supposed to take care of her today. You remember how upset she was when I had to go to Korea, fucking shit hole that it was, and miss her performance, all so I could get some time to spend with her."

"Tony and Victoria are looking after her today while I'm attempting to assist with the diplomatic security groups, since they all hold the same rank it's hard for some groups to do what is needed to ensure safety is kept to a standard."

Harry nodded. "You got drafted when they found out you were here because of Italy?"

"Yep."

"No good deed goes unpunished." Harry quoted as he gently woke up the twins. "C'mon you two, we're working today. I want you both dressed and ready in the next ten minutes."

They both groaned but sat up to get ready.

Harry and Robert made their way out and into the tents living room area, which was just the center of the tent that connected everything together, the bedrooms were off to the left, Kitchen, bathroom and laundry were off to the right and extra storage space was directly across from the entrance of the tent. It was relatively small, for a wizarding tent, but it had what they needed, three bedrooms, though the twins always slept with Harry when they were able to get away with it, otherwise they shared with Janet, Robert shared the last room with Victoria and Tony, who, being the married couple of the group, always slept together.

When Harry and the twins were ready to leave they were wearing their best, and flashiest, dragonhide armour which bared the ICW insignia, though it was a glamour and not actually a part of the design.

Harry's armour consisted of a black leather ¾ length jacket with two red leather stripes down the center of the back, the interior around the neck was also a matching red fabric, he wore a spell resistant vest, with an acromanutla silk shirt underneath, he had made the addition of a blood red sash wrapped around his waist with a section hanging forward, an image of a crow with extended wings sitting atop a skull imprinted on material.

Both Joanna and Bethany wore simple outfits in comparison to Harry's own, though his was more styled for his combat style that the twins own. They wore black dragonhide leather coats and spell resistant vests, similar to Harry's own, though they had some difference.

Bethany's coat had a blood red cutaway design attached to a silk hood that rested on the back of her shoulders.

Joanna's coat had a waist length purple fabric with floral designs running up along the trip towards the silk hood that she had resting on her shoulders like her sister.

 **(A/N the outfits are taken from Assassins Creed Syndicate, Harry is wearing the Jacob's Maximum Dracula outfit, Bethany is wearing Evie's Master Assassin Outfit, without the additional fabric cape behind the shoulder, and Joanna is wearing Evie's Nightshade Cloak Outfit, again without the cape.)**

All together they made for an eye drawing sight, though no one dared approach them lest anyone attempt to draw the dark look that Harry had.

"I can't believe that we have to work, I thought we were on vacation." Joanna complained.

"We were supposed to be on vacation Joanna. But you can growl at Ryder when we see him next, he's the one that made us work." Bethany informed her sister.

"Actually, you can blame the Irish." Harry supplied.

"Really?" they asked.

Harry nodded. "They nearly broke the statue, according to Div, in the middle of London when they were trying to bring something into the country."

"What were they bringing in?" Joanna asked.

Harry shrugged. "Div didn't explain what it was, but it must have been something that the non-magical community would have recognized as magical for him to do have the local enforcer there to oversee everything."

"Bloody Irish." Bethany cursed, ignoring the looks that they were getting from the sudden outburst.

Instead of replying Harry made a sharp turn and started making his way towards a group of wizards that were gathering around a short girl with platinum blonde hair.

"C'mon baby, don't be shy." They heard one entice.

"Yeah, c'mon. We just want to have some fun babe." Another added.

"That's enough!" Harry shouted, pulling his wand out of his concealed holster.

"Buzz off bite size." One of the wizards remarked without looking back at Harry.

"Oi, Dutch." The third smacked his friend. "Take a look at the chicks he's brought with 'him."

The other two boys looked at Harry and then at the twins behind him.

"Must be our lucky day boys." The first one sniffed. "We got three birds to play wif."

Harry sneered, showing off a canine tooth.

"I think we're the lucky ones, don't you think so girls?" Harry said.

"I don't think so, otherwise we wouldn't be working and we'd be having some fun back at the tent." Bethany remarked. "We wouldn't be dealing with _basura inútil_ like these."

Harry sighed dramatically.

"Unfortunately, dear sister, you are correct." Joanna replied to her sister's comment in Harry's place.

"Well now, lookie here. Sisters." Scumbag number two licked his lips. "We've really hit the jackpot now."

"Yeah, there's one for each of us." The third looked back at the young girl the group had been harassing before Harry had arrived.

"You know what girls?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"What?" Joanna replied.

"I don't think these guys know who we are."

"Doesn't look like it." Bethany replied.

"Oh?" The third asked. "Who are you then, since we don't know and all."

"I'd be happy to enlighten you." Harry grinned as he gripped the hem of his jacket.

"I'm commonly known as Agent Carter." He began as he yanked open his coat revealing the badge that was pinned to his vest, he grinned when he saw the trio's eyes widen in shock.

"Shit!"

The thugs went for their wands but Harry and the twins were faster.

Harry's wand shot out of his holster and into his hand within a heartbeat, at the same time the twins shot forward, Harry slashed his wand in a wide vertical arc reminiscent to a slash of a blade.

" _ **Bumastus**_ "

Following the motions of Harry's wand, thick vines shot from the ground around and wrapped around the thug preventing him from moving while also forcing him to drop his wand when he was taken by surprise. The twins were somewhat more physical with their opponents.

Joanne took down the thug on the left, Scumbag number one, by tightly gripping his right arm, sliding under the arm and gripping him by the neck tightly and forcing him to his knees. She twisted his arm so it was painfully extended and nearly popped out of his shoulder.

"Drop it." She growled showing her extended Canine teeth.

The suddenness of the manoeuvre combined with the shock and pain then drizzled with the harsh tone of voice caused the scumbag to obey. He dropped his wand as soon as she told him to, regardless of what would happen next.

Bethany decided to go for a more violent approach.

She charged at the remaining scumbag slugging him in the stomach, forcing him to curve around her fist, she then took advantage of his position to wrap her arm around his neck, moving around him, she grabbed her arm that was still pressing into his stomach and slid it back until she was holding bother her hands and tightening her arm around his neck, choking him by cutting off his airway. The scumbag dropped his wand and pulled at the arm as his breath started running out and dark spots started to appear in his vision.

A quick summoning charm had all three wands shooting through the air and into Harry's waiting hand. He shot a quick stunner into the struggling captive held by Joanne, before roughly shoving the wands into his uniforms pocket and quickly moving to loosen Bethany's grip around the offender's throat.

"That's enough!" Harry shouted as he pulled her arms free, causing the offender to drop to the ground taking in deep ragged breathes.

Once her arms were no longer holding onto the male she looked at Harry who had nothing other than a scowl on his face as a reply. She knew right away that she had gone too far, she stepped away and looked at the ground, showing that she was no longer taking an offensive position.

Harry shot a stunner at the gasping final scumbag.

"Control your anger." Harry told Bethany before letting the situation drop.

"What's wrong with you three?" The remaining offender exclaimed.

Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at the restrained offender.

"We're doing our job." Harry replied. "What's wrong with you?"

Instead of waiting for an answer Harry pointed his wand at his mouth.

" **Norricto** "

He attempted to say something to Harry but before he could Harry and the girls watched in sick fondness as skin started growing over the man's mouth cutting off his words and only allowing them to hear murmurs and grunts from him.

"Is it wrong that I've just found my new favourite spell?" Joanne asked rhetorically.

Bethany remained silent as she had been scolded before and didn't want to get into any more trouble.

Harry sighed and used a quick cutting charm to cut the base of the roots restraining the still conscious thug.


End file.
